Wheatley leads Golden Hawks to semis

By Dan DunkinStaff Writer

Sunday

Feb 26, 2012 at 12:01 AM

NORTHAMPTON — Various defenses have been used in vain to stop Alex Wheatley.

Single coverage on the athletic, tall and prolific Council Rock South center is not exactly the best option. That’s the whole point with throwing different types of zones and help-designed gimmicks at the 6-foot-3, Princeton-bound Wheatley; teams can’t cover her with just one player.

But visiting Upper Darby frequently tried that tactic, and paid dearly for it.

Wheatley scored 23 points, including 11 in the third quarter, and added 16 rebounds, three blocks, four assists and three steals to propel No. 2-seeded CR South to a 44-32 victory Saturday afternoon and into the District One Class AAAA semifinals.

The 25-0 Golden Hawks will face either No. 3 seed Spring-Ford or No. 11 seed Haverford (those teams play Sunday at 2 p.m. at Spring-Ford) on Wednesday (6 p.m.) at Norristown High School.

Upper Darby (19-8), the No. 7 seed, came out in man defense, with Taylor Newman assigned to Wheatley. Two minutes into the game, Wheatley faked a 15-footer and drove for a layup.

She got another inside bucket in the first quarter, and her teammates likewise did one-on-one damage against defenders playing them high and tight. Point guard Alexis Hofstaedter twice took defenders off the dribble for baskets, and Courtney Brown sliced through the lane for a score.

With Upper Darby still hanging around shortly after halftime, trailing by just 22-16, Wheatley completely took over in the third quarter against mostly man-to-man defense. She was responsible for an entire 11-0 run that put the game away.

CR South coach Monica Stolic was shocked the Royals tried single-coverage on Wheatley. Shocked and happy.

“I told (Wheatley), ‘Are you kidding me? That’s not showing respect to you,’” Stolic said. “She needs to be respected, and if not, you take advantage of that.

“When a team only puts one player on her, usually the person can’t guard her.”

“It was nice. They were guarding me one-on-one, and if they doubled down, I could kick it out,” Wheatley said, adding that perimeter players Hofstaedter, Brown and Taylor Dillon did a good job of controlling tempo.

In order during the Wheatley-led 11-0 run: She scored inside on a feed from Hofstaedter; dumped off the ball to Rachel Jacob for a basket; rebounded Jacob’s subsequent missed free throw for a bucket; drove for two; then made a steal and drove from 60 feet out for a three-point play.

Later in the period in what’s become a trademark CR South play, Wheatley outran everybody the length of the court and deposited a touchdown pass from Hofstaedter.

“We wanted to come out the first three minutes (of the second half) and make a statement,” Wheatley said.

Upper Darby had better luck with a zone defense in parts of the second quarter, as the Hawks, normally a good shooting team, misfired from outside. They missed eight of their last 11 shots of the second quarter, and that helped keep the Royals in the game as they cut a 14-point deficit in half.

But for the most part, Upper Darby couldn’t shoot well against the Hawks’ extended, intense defense, going 1-for-9 in the first quarter and 3-for-14 in the pivotal third. The Hawks’ lead jumped to a high of 17 at the end of the 11-0 Wheatley run.

Brown, whose outside shooting was big in the first two tourney wins, was off in this one but played exceptional defense against Upper Darby’s top threat, Tyra Polite, holding her to seven points, half her average.

Again without usual starting forward Caitlin Jackson (knee injury), South got good contributions from its six-player rotation: seven points and the usual swarming defense from Dillon; six and stellar floor leadership by Hofstaedter; a combined six points and plenty of interior hustle by forwards Jacob and Taylor Hunt.

At this point, you can safely say that no team in District One gets more out of six players than still-undefeated CR South.

“It feels amazing, unbelievable,” Brown smiled about reaching the district semis. “We’re just so happy. We work hard and it’s paying off.”

“Hoff (Hofstaedter) said it’s surreal,” Wheatley said. “We just have to keep it going.”

Dan Dunkin: ddunkin@phillyburbs.com; Twitter, @DanDunkin

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